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Milk Frother

Skip the long lines at the coffee shop, and make your own delicious drinks at home when you buy a milk frother. These tools can either be battery operated or you will need to manually froth your milk. They are incredibly easy and fast to use and will quickly froth up your milk. They can then be cleaned by rinsing them under water and giving them a quick scrub with your sponge so that you don’t have to worry about bacteria growth or old milk smelling when you use them again in the future.

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Baker’s Peel

A baker’s peel (aka pizza peel, aka cake lifter) is a tool used to lift large baked goods such as breads and pizzas into and out of the oven. They came in various sizes. Large commercial ones can look like a spatula on steroids, big enough to look like a small shovel and will consist of a flat surface called a blade attached to a handle whose length can vary depending on the depth of the oven it is needed for.

Home use peels have shorter extended handles or handles formed from a curled up part of the blade (these latter are often sold as “cake lifts”.) The blade may be rectangular or more round, and can be metal or wood. The metal ones are uniformly thin; the wood ones taper to a thin edge.

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Dutch Ovens

Dutch ovens are generally large, wide, stout pots. They are wide with a flat bottom, and shallow, in that they are wider than they are tall. The wide mouth makes them ideal for evaporation of water and concentration of flavours left behind. The pots are usually round, but you can find oval ones here and there. Standard stove-top ones are in the range of 25 cm (10 inches) wide, and about 12 1/2 cm (5 inches) tall. They tend to have a capacity of 4 litres (4 quarts) or more.

They were traditionally made of cast iron, but most are now made of aluminum, anodized aluminum or stainless steel. What a Dutch oven is depends on whether you ask a Boy Scout or not. There are modern, indoor models, and traditional models that can be used over open wood fires. Modern indoor ones now dominate the category, with the result that traditional Dutch ovens are now often referred to in ways such as “camping Dutch ovens.”

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The BEST Beef Stew Recipe - Hundreds of 5-Star Reviews!!

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Spice Grinder

While a mortar and pestle is a great way to grind fresh spices, if you do not want to perform this task by hand or do not have enough hand strength, then buying a spice grinder is a great idea. This appliance makes it easy to quickly grind your spices to the desired size. Some homeowners also use their spice grinder as a nut grinder or as a coffee grinder so that they can have fresh coffee every time they brew a pot. If you do choose to do this, then it is important that you wash your grinder before switching between coffee beans and spices to decrease the chance of flavor contamination.

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Flaky and Crisp Gluten-Free Pie Crust Recipe

This buttery dough bakes up tender and golden brown—perfect for all your favorite pies. The trick is xanthan gum, which adds strength and elasticity to the dough. Just take your time and work in stages, and your patience will be rewarded with a dough that's flaky, crisp, and beautiful to behold.

Ingredients 4 ounces white rice flour (3/4 cup; 113g) 2 1/2 ounces cornstarch (1/2 cup; 70g), plus more for dusting 1 1/2 ounces tapioca flour (1/3 cup; 42g) 1 ounce coconut flour (1/4 cup; 28g) 1/2 ounce sugar (1 tablespoon; 15g) 1 1/4 teaspoons (5g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume or use the same weight 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum 8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks; 225g), cold 4 ounces cold water (1/2 cup; 115g) Directions 1. For the Dough: Whisk white rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca flour, coconut flour, sugar, salt, and xanthan gum together in a medium bowl. Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with flour mixture to break up the pieces. With your fingertips, smash each cube into a thin sheet—that's it! Stir in water, then knead dough against the sides of the bowl until it comes together in a shaggy ball. 2. Make the Layers: On a very generously dusted work surface, gently roll dough into a roughly 10- by 15-inch rectangle, sprinkling more cornstarch above and below to prevent sticking. Don't be shy! Fold the 10-inch sides to the center, then close the newly formed packet like a book. Fold in half once more, bringing the short sides together to create a thick block. The dough will crack along the creases, but that's just fine. Divide in half with a sharp knife or bench scraper. If dough is very soft or if you are working in a hot kitchen, refrigerate for 15 minutes before continuing. 3. For Single-Crusted Pies: Using as much cornstarch as needed, gently roll one piece into a 12-inch circle. Slide an offset spatula underneath it to loosen, then divide into quarters. Transfer to the pie plate one at a time, folding the top edge of each piece over to create a thick border that sits atop the rim of the pan. Press and pinch dough together along the seams to form a unified whole. Repeat with remaining dough. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Use as directed in your favorite recipe. 4. For a Double-Crusted Pie: Shape one piece of dough according to the directions above. For a solid top crust, roll remaining dough the same way, or roll into a 9- by 15-inch rectangle for a lattice-top pie. Divide into manageable pieces and transfer to a baking sheet or parchment-lined cutting board. (The parchment will prevent dough from absorbing any savory odors from the board.) Wrap both portions in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Use as directed in your favorite recipe.

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Snacks To Fix Your Late Night Cravings

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Hand Mixer

Hand mixers are very common kitchen tools, and for good reason. They have a number of uses, including mixing up batter for brownies, mashing potatoes, and beating eggs. While traditionally hand mixers only came with one type of attachment, it is more and more common to find ones for sale that offer whisks and other attachments to choose from. Buying a hand mixer with additional attachments will ensure that it is best able to meet your needs and that you can get a lot of use out of this appliance.

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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle, with a brown butter-like aroma thanks to some culinary slight of hand—the subtle use of dry malt extract and nutmeg to create some of the toasty, nutty flavors that traditional butter cookies develop as they brown. The result is a cookie that needs no disclaimer—it's not "good for a vegan recipe," it's just plain good.

The cocoa butter in chopped chocolate flavors and thickens this dough, which won't behave the same with mass-produced morsels. Refined coconut oil is odorless and flavorless, with a melting point and creaming properties similar to butter. Nutmeg adds a sense of butteriness. The toasty flavor of dry malt extract mimics the taste of brown butter. An oat slurry provides water, protein, and emulsification, much like a whole egg, but with a subtle flavor that blends seamlessly with the dough.

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Stove-top Pressure Cookers

Stove-top pressure cookers can be made of aluminum or stainless steel. Stainless steel ones can stay nice and shiny for the most part, and can go in the dishwasher. Aluminum ones can’t go in the dishwasher, but they heat up faster, and conduct heat better. Most come with a trivet to go inside them to keep food items up off the bottom. On a stove-top pressure cooker, the vent tube is the part that allows excess steam to escape. You don’t want it to get clogged. You can use a pipe cleaner to clean the vent tube. On some “old school” models, a small piece called a rocker (aka “regulator”) rests on top of the vent tube. When the rocker begins to rock, it means pressure has been reached and you can reduce the heat a little bit. As long as the rocker is fussing, things are proceeding as they should be, so don’t wander out of hearing range for too long. Some models come with swappable rockers that can vary the pressure achieved inside the pot. Care needs to be taken not to lose the rocker or the pot is useless without it.

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Stick Blender

Being able to blend your food directly in the container that you were cooking it in will reduce the amount of dishes that you have to wash when the meal is finished and also ensure that you can finish cooking quickly. A stick blender is long and thin, and it is perfect for blending soup in a pot or for making a smoothie in a tall glass. The part of the blender with the blades will easily detach from the handle so that you can wash your stick blender without worrying about catching your fingers on the blades.

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Kettle

A kettle is a vessel designed to boil liquids in. These days, the purpose is mainly to boil water for hot drinks such as tea, coffee or hot chocolate, but historically kettles would have been used also for liquid dishes such as soups and stews. A kettle can be made of metal, glass or plastic, and depending on the design of it, can be electric, or for stovetop use. Most stove-top ones tend to whistle when they boil. They will be made of heat-proof glass or, more usually, metal.

When buying a kettle to boil water in, always think of trying to reach your hand in through the top of it to clean it (will a hand fit in easily?) Some kettles will pour on the slightest slope; some require you to tip them almost 90 degrees to pour. When considering one for purchase, go through the motions of pouring with it, and look at where the spout is in relation to the handle — some short spouts are in just the right place so that when the kettle is tipped to pour, the steam will rise vertically up over the top of the kettle and scald the hand holding it a lobster-red.